Effect of Baseline Hemoglobin Level on Prognosis in Nasopharyngeal Cancer Patients Receiving Chemoradiotherapy

Objective: To explore retrospectively how pretreatment hemoglobin levels affected the prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal cancer receiving chemoradiotherapy. Methods: Clinical data of 97 nasopharyngeal cancer patients who received definitive chemoradiotherapy between 2000 and 2022 were analyzed. We accepted the cut-off value of hemoglobin as 11.0g/dL. Results: In general, 13 (13%) of patients were Hb≤11g/dL, while 84 (86%) was Hb>11g/dL. Median survival times were 76 (95%CI 19-132) months and 205 (95%CI 157-252) months for Hb≤11g/dL and Hb>11g/dL patients, respectively. 1, 2, 3 and 5 year survival rates were 67.7%, 67.7%, 67.7% and 58% for Hb≤11g/dL and 90.3%, 83.6.2%, 75.2% and 66.1% for Hb>11g/dL patients, respectively, and this difference show no statistical significance (p=0.254). When we evaluated patients according to WHO criteria for anemia (hemoglobin <12g/dL (female) or